Autophagy is a physiological phenomenon responsible for the degradation of long-lived proteins, organelles and cytoplasmic fragments. It allows cellular recycling following lysosomal degradation and helps the cell to survive various stress conditions including starvation, growth factor and oxidative stress. Paradoxically, under certain conditions autophagy may kill the cell through a caspase-independent, non-apoptotic type of cell death (Type II cell death or autophagic cell death). Several lines of evidence point out to a direct connection between classical apoptosis and autophagy. Molecular mechanisms of apoptosis-autophagy connection start to be unraveled. The cross-talk between autophagy and apoptosis seems quite complex but certainly is critical for the development of novel diagnosis, follow-up and treatment modalities in health problems such as cancer, infections and neurodegenerative diseases
